Bless the mall

Let's hear it for Batemans Bay Village Centre. It has invited schools in the district to present a series of concerts for the entertainment of shoppers - and it is paying the schools' expenses, including the hire of bus transport. Today it was the turn of the primary-school children from Moruya, 30km south of the Bay. They played and sang with style and a musicality that had their teachers justifiably beaming with pride.